Rachel Doughty

Website:

www.racheldoughty.co.uk

@rdoughtyart

@racheldoughtyart

Hiding In Plain Sight #7

Standing Stones #1

Untitled

Biography

Since completing my MA in Contemporary Arts Practice, the majority of my creative output has been focused on highlighting social and political issues that affect women and children through the use of textile installations and I have covered such subjects as International Adoption, the refugee crisis and my current body of work, however has been a return painting, a medium I have not worked in for nearly 20 years and has taken quite a different direction from previous work.
My current paintings, produced in series, all at the same time are very much focused on process and the manipulation of materials. These paintings can be seen as an antidote to my previously heavily researched based works as they are much more intuitive and free forming.

inspiration

Whilst creating works, there is no visual end in mind just an exploration of process and materials through mark making, although I do find that an album I have been listening to or a book I have recently read, does seem to be in my subconscious whilst I am creating: in fact many of my series are named after a sentence or group of words that have resonated with me, but may have no direct connection with the work. Such titles include Hiding in Plain Sight, Burnt Sugar Is So Bitter and Heavy and Slow. Inspiration is very much of the moment but manages to find longevity in the layers of materials.

medium

I use cold wax and oil paint, acrylics and collage to produce my paintings but they always begin with mark making on blank white paper using a variety of drawing materials. The cold wax is mixed with the oil paint and mostly dragged and scraped across the surface using palette knives and decorators tools. Collage papers break up large areas or disrupt the composition; some of these being found and bought papers, other I have created myself through painting and printing. Masking processes are also employed to retain layers underneath. I also mono print on to the painted surface and use found objects to print textures and lines. I intentionally limited my colour palettes to quieten the hues and let the focus be on mark making. My experimenting with materials and tools is an ongoing process.